The first player picked by Buttler is his own teammate, England's Adil Rashid. Back in 2019, the leg-spinner got 11 scalps in his debut World Cup on home soil, including figures of 3/54 (10) against Australia and 3/66 (10) when taking on Afghanistan. His economy was under five an over against New Zealand in the final, where the side eventually lifted the trophy. Rashid will be aiming to enjoy India's spin-friendly conditions and comes into the tournament boasting strong form, going 10 ODI matches on the trot taking at least one wicket. In the last 10 ODIs, Rashid has taken 22 wickets at an average of 22.72, at an economy of 5.95, taking a wicket every 23 deliveries. He could pass the 200 wickets milestone during the tournament, with 16 more scalps to go. Adil has 184 ODI wickets at an average of 32.41 with an economy of 5.67 and 11 Cricket World Cup wickets at an average of 47.81 with an economy of 5.71

The second choice for Buttler is South Africa's wicket-keeper-batsman Quinton de Kock. This will be his last World Cup and ODI cricket appearance but his image as a match-winner is still widely recognized ahead of Proteas campaign in India. He strikes close to a run-a-ball in the 50-over format, de Kock's average of 44.75 is great, considering the new ball challenges at the top of the order and his aggressive, high-risk approach with the bat. At World Cups, de Kock has not made a huge score. He made three half-centuries at the 2019 tournament, including a knock of 68 (74) against England and 52 (51) against Australia in a winning effort. Quinton de Kock's ODI figures are 6,178 runs at 44.75 with a strike rate of 95.75. He scored 450 Cricket World Cup runs at 30.00 having a strike rate of 85.55

The third pick by Buttler is the host country's captain Rohit Sharma. Having recently 10,000 ODI runs, the Indian skipper's 2019 Cricket World Cup campaign is fresh in everyone's memory. Bouncing back from the heartbreak of missing India's 2011 squad, Rohit showed glimpses of his class with 137 (126) against Bangladesh and also two half-centuries at the 2015 tournament. The 2019 campaign for Rohit exceeded everyone's expectations, blasting five centuries, including three tons in successive knocks against England, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He scored 648 runs in the tournament with five tons and a fifty, ending up as leading run-scorer in the tournament. Rohit will most likely pass 1,000 runs in Cricket World Cup matches, with his average of 65.20 only bettered by one player to cross four four figures - South Africa AB de Villiers. Rohit has scored 10,031 ODI runs at an average of 48.68 with a strike rate of 90.26 and 978 World Cup runs at an average of 65.20 having a strike rate of 95.97 till now

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell is in the fourth spot on the list. Highly regarded as a match-winner both with ball and bat, Maxwell was acknowledged by his English rival and will be key for Australia in Indian conditions. At Cricket World Cup 2019, Maxwell was not blessed with a lot of opportunities with the bat, mostly taking to the crease in death-over situations, but in the 2015 campaign, Maxwell stepped up. He made a swashbuckling 102 (53) against Sri Lanka in Sydney, as well as quick-fire half-centuries against Afghanistan and England on the road to lifting the trophy. Churning runs out through the middle and death overs with the bat, Maxwell will also be useful with his off-spin and could be taking greater responsibility on slower pitches. Maxwell scored 3,490 ODI runs and picked 60 wickets in ODI till now

The fifth player is South Africa's speedgun Anrich Nortje. He has 36 ODI wickets and has not yet debuted in the World Cup for South Africa. Battling Anrich Nortje is a headache, and Buttler knows first hand, dismissed by the Proteas quick in their first meeting in the ODI format back in January. Nortjea's plan of hitting back of the length brought Buttler undone in Bloemfontein, who edged to Quinton de Kock. Buttler has scored only 19 runs off 15 balls against Nortje in the format aside from the dismissal. Ruled out with a hand injury for the 2019 tournament, the 2023 competition was supposed to be his first WC, but he was ruled out of the squad due to an injury again